{"id":9081,"date":"2014-08-24T16:27:25","date_gmt":"2014-08-24T20:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=9081"},"modified":"2014-08-24T16:27:25","modified_gmt":"2014-08-24T20:27:25","slug":"what-we-do-for-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/08\/what-we-do-for-love.html","title":{"rendered":"what we do for love"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"I<\/a><\/p>\n

We did it! Those of us who signed up for the half-marathon (and those who were insane enough to go 24 hours w\/out sleep<\/strong> for the whole nine yards!) did it!<\/p>\n

As one of the participants noted, what kind of crazy people would spend a day sweating over poetry w\/ strangers? Weeelll… Poets would. And did.<\/p>\n

The thing about doing something so thoroughly non-remunerative (we made no $$; it won’t look impressive on a resum\u00e9; it’s not prestigious — yet!; etc.) is that it reminds you what you love. \"poetry<\/a><\/p>\n

Sometimes I need to remember that. I need to get back in touch w\/what is so important to me — and\/or so much fun — that I need nothing more than the joy & challenge of doing it. Because, well, life and chores and ‘responsibilities’ sneak up on me. And suddenly I’m on the phone all day with people I love, but who may be more needing than rewarding.<\/p>\n

‘Reward’ is a funny concept. I spent TWELVE HOURS yesterday writing often fairly mediocre poetry. And ‘publishing’ it to group of strangers. Who will be able to TELL it’s mediocre. And the only reasons I can give you are this: I wanted to see if I could do it. And it was (all whining aside) hugely ‘rewarding.’<\/p>\n

\"poetry<\/a>So I realise that would NOT be true for most folks I know. But it’s true for me, and the 100 or so other folks who challenged ourselves to write\/ compose\/ plan\/ dream\/ eat & sleep & breathe poetry for 12 or 24 hours.<\/p>\n

See that badge uppa top of the page? That’s<\/em> my ‘reward.’ Oh — and 12 poems. Each of which, because I kept my word to myself, is a winner. And that kind of love feeds my beginner’s heart all to pieces.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We did it! Those of us who signed up for the half-marathon (and those who were insane enough to go 24 hours w\/out sleep for the whole nine yards!) did it! As one of the participants noted, what kind of crazy people would spend a day sweating over poetry w\/ strangers? Weeelll… Poets would. And…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,58],"tags":[11,1181,1187,262,1263,861,1201],"class_list":["post-9081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","category-writing","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-national-poetry-writing-month","tag-poetry-marathon","tag-writing"],"yoast_head":"\nwhat we do for love - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We did it! 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